So I was going to keep this kind of secret until the finished product, but I suppose if there is a group of people who can appreciate and contribute to a project like this, you can.

Me and my fiancee Brittany are planning to attend Dallas Comic Con 2012 before the wedding (all for me, naturally), so I am going to be making Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch costumes for us. Hers will reflect the mainstream costume while mine will be the original, 1975 costume. Unadulterated and completely canon. I've just barely started, only having crafted the tail and conceptualized the rest. Tomorrow I hope to start making the feet and hunting down the fabric for them. I will post pictures of my progress (hopefully weekly, but probably monthly). Add comments and feedback. Everything helps.

OMG! This makes me SO HAPPY! I love this idea! Please do share pictures once you guys are all dressed up. I can't wait to see!

"If you live your life to please everyone else, you will continue to feel frustrated and powerless. This is because what others want may not be good for you. You are not being mean when you say NO to unreasonable demands or when you express your ideas, feelings, and opinions, even if they differ from those of others.â€

A black long-legged, long-sleeved leotard makes a great base, so all you really need to do is sew additional pieces onto it. A stick of grease paint in the proper blue makes for great makeup, and flesh-toned elf ears can be painted with it as well. Go for the individual fangs that glue directly onto your canines. They feel odd at first, but you can leave them in when drinking and eating some snacks.

Oh, as far as any kind of advice (other than my squeeing), I'd recommend checking out dance clothing websites to buy some basics, especially for Wanda. I bet you can get away with not having to sew a whole bit for her costume, just getting some leotards and the like.

"If you live your life to please everyone else, you will continue to feel frustrated and powerless. This is because what others want may not be good for you. You are not being mean when you say NO to unreasonable demands or when you express your ideas, feelings, and opinions, even if they differ from those of others.â€

So here's what I did today. Remember, this is no where near finished...

So here are the feet. All the nastiness will be covered by spandex, so have no fear! Will probably paint white, depending on opacity of material. I doubt I will keep the laces in. Notice I had to cut into the shoe a bit to make the toes more pronounced and I added the "back toe", naturally. I also put ping pong ball halves on the toes, for added detail.

So this is my modeling the tail. 1st photo is outside the shirt to see how i mounted it, 2nd pic is under the shirt to kind of show how it should look in costume. The red V in the costume will have a hole in the back for the tail to come through, hopefully hiding some of the bulge in the lower back. I also hope to lose a few lbs in my tummy, not only to look nice in the costume, but to look nice for my wedding.

I modified an unused belt to secure the tail, which is made of aluminum rod and foam rubber. Needed alot of tape to get it right. Added cardboard for extra support.

The spade is made of cardboard. Note how the end of the tail tapers into the spade. Once I add the dark blue felt around it, I will accentuate this detail in the stitching.

Very impressive! You know, I wonder if you picked up a pair of Spanx or something similar to put over the belted tail to help pull it in and give you more support? It may pinch everything too close, but then if you get a bigger size, it may be just enough?

"If you live your life to please everyone else, you will continue to feel frustrated and powerless. This is because what others want may not be good for you. You are not being mean when you say NO to unreasonable demands or when you express your ideas, feelings, and opinions, even if they differ from those of others.â€

Bamfing_Bob wrote:I'm still gonna lose the weight, but a girdle or something similar would help both my gut and the tail bump... Thanks!

OH! Well, I wasn't inferring you needed it to pull in your gut . More for smoothing out the back and offering more support.

"If you live your life to please everyone else, you will continue to feel frustrated and powerless. This is because what others want may not be good for you. You are not being mean when you say NO to unreasonable demands or when you express your ideas, feelings, and opinions, even if they differ from those of others.â€

Actually, I have two options I am playing with. The first is attaching the V to the top and leave the bottom loose to be attached in the crotch area. The second is to be a completely separate piece that I can attach with velcro around the entire outline. I am leaning toward option two in order to eliminate bunching...

Look for my old Nightcrawler costume thread here. For the make-up I highly recommend Mac's Chromacake. They have a midnight blue which I used and it was perfect. I used their basic black power to darken the eyes and contour the cheeks, etc.. I see you already got started on the feet. An easy way out would be to find white tabi (aka split toe) boots online. Most martial art supply places carry them and they work perfectly.

I looked up the tabi boots, and while nice, I want the toes to be even length and width. Plus, since I am adding the back toe anyway, I am just making the whole shoe (probably the hands too). The makeup is a good idea. However, upon looking it up, MAC Chromacake can only be purchased from a MAC Pro store, which is no where close to where I live. Plus, I am on quite a small budget (less than $125), so I will probably end up mixing a regular blue with black until I get the right shade.

I am not trying to turn down any suggestions, cuz I think you did an awesome job on your costume; I just want kind of a different look than what you went for. A little more retro than modern, you know?

My girlfriend works at a thrift shop and when she and her friends cosplay, they raid the hell out of that place.

Thrift shops are a great way to work on costuming. Outfits can be hard to design and you might not want to spend the money on a ten dollar sweatshirt from Wal-Mart to chop up to look like a piece of a costume, you can spend the 3$ instead from the Thrift shop.

You're probably aware of the Thrift Shop ordeal, you seem to be pretty professional at the cosplay thing. :3

But I would definitely suggest getting a wig over dying your own hair. To get a stylized wig is much easier and more realistic as well. (Again, you seem to be sorta professional with this..., so you most likely know that, but those are the pieces of input I got.)

My girlfriend has always told me to cut back on spending with things that you can make, and splurge on the things you are not capable of recreating yourself (such as hair, colored eyes, finger nails, etc...).

When I said I wanted to do Fry for NYCC she talked me into purchasing a wig instead of dying my own hair.

"Dye and gel will wash out, cons get hot, you'll sweat. Get a wig, you can take it off and be yourself or you can throw it on and be Fry, either way you won't be sweating glue and colors down your face or look like a weird wet mess when it flops over halfway through the con."

The trick is ordering them JUST IN TIME. Something always seems to happen to wigs when you get them too early. They'll get damaged/lost/... burned.
>_>

Slarti wrote:Mehron also makes good makeup in a good selection of colors, and it's a heck of a lot cheaper than MAC.

Seconded. Mehron is what I used, and you should be able to get a stick of it for $10 or so. A Halloween or theater supply store might carry it. They make a nice blue. Here's what the sticks look like:

Velcro sounds like a decent idea for the red, especially with yours being multiple pieces. Mine was just sewn on. My mom pinned the red piece onto the leotard while I was wearing it to make sure it sat right. It's a miracle she didn't stab me in the crotch when I fainted.

Slarti and Wahnsinn: Mehron is more plausable for me... My only concern is sticky face and color running. I can always re-apply make-up, but what a hassle! I'd rather apply once in the morning and be worry free all day. Definately looking into it. I also have no problem sewing the tunic on, but since I am almost certain I will be using velcro to attach the gloves/wristbands and feet/anklebands, I just wanna be consisant. Maybe partial velcro? IDK... Still in the concept stage since I have yet to get white or red fabrics... Some thinking to still do.. (PS, Love the profile pic Slarti)

Ult_Sm: I am quite flattered. This is my first (and probably only) Cosplay; I just love Nighty so much and I know after a certain age, I just can't enjoy this sort of thing anymore. Plus my fiancee is young and beautiful and is perfect for scarlet witch. (:offtopic Today is our 2 year anniversary) Yeah, thrift stores and eBay are my friend. The shoes are actually from a flea market 3 years or so back I never wear anymore. As for the wig, I am kind of partial to the black dye w/ blue throughout idea. I just already have fairly dark and wavy hair, and I've never dyed it so I think it might be fun. Gel won't be needed (most scenarios) and truth be told, I would rather sweat into my hair than burn up under a wig and let it drip onto my face (which as you read, I am already paranoid about running).

As for makeup run, I've worn Mehron makeup for years working in haunted houses sweating like a pig and it's generally good for a few hours if you leave it alone. It's made for theater/television use so it can hold up under hot lights and such.

Mehron didn't run on me, and I wore it all day for multiple Halloweens. I didn't use a sealer, but I also didn't run around enough to get really sweaty. (Did I use powder to set it? Hrm. Maybe. Not sure. Can't remember.) Stickiness wasn't a problem for me, and I wore it on my hands for my gargoyle costume. It's really good stuff, and it gets extra points for not irritating my skin.

You probably already know this, but try to get fabric that's as close to your pants and shirt as possible in texture and stretchiness. Spandex-type stuff looks a bit odd when it doesn't match.

Bamfing_Bob wrote:Got my spandex. Its great. I'm gonna try out the make up I have before buying any mehron. Also, I got extra felt. What do you guys think about applying some fuzz to my face? Good idea or bad?

Hm, I have to say, having done a good amount of theatrical makeup, I have no experience with doing anything like that; I'm not sure how you would do it. I'm not sure doing it with felt would look good.

One possibility (though I may be over-thinking it) is using liquid latex and doing short swipes with a fan brush or something similar over your face so the bristles give you a kind of furred texture. You may be able to do that with other brushes too; I'm not sure.

I do face painting at local art shows and festivals. If the liquid latex doesn't sound like a good idea, you could try mixing up a batch of slightly lighter blue and us a fan brush to stipple in some shading. I've done that to make the appearance of fur on some of my cat faces. I've never worked with Mehron so I don't know how well that would shade.

You seem to be putting a lot of work into this project. I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like.

Always a Queen of Narnia

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds. G.K. Chesterton